My Great Grandfather was born in Italy (1890), emigrated to New Zealand around 1923 for reasons unknown, then had my grandmother in New Zealand in 1926.

In 1927 my Great Grandfather Naturalised as a New Zealand Citizen.

a) Could my Great Grandfather keep dual Nationality (Italian and NZ) at this precise moment in 1927?

b) If he renounced his Italian Citizenship at this time in favor of becoming a New Zealand citizen, what happened to his children (more importantly my grandmother) at the time of their birth before 1927, and for those born after this date?

c) Did my grandmother have Italian Citizenship (through her father) from the day she was born even if she was never registered in Italy?

Although your ggf's naturalization was not considered renunciation, it did result in the loss of his Italian citizenship. Your gm, however was born before this loss, and thus was born with Italian citizenship. She did not lose it when her father naturalized the following year. Any of her siblings born after the naturalization would not be Italian citizens.

I am guessing that you are asking these questions for citizenship recognition purposes. If so:

1. Unless she formally renounced at an Italian consulate, she was Italian from the day she was born until the day she died.

2. Your gm could pass citizenship to all her children born after 1948. For those children born before 1948, citizenship is still possible but would require a lawsuit.

3. If you seek citizenship for yourself, you will need to document the continuity of the Italian line from your ggf to you. The naturalization date is critical because it proves your ggf was still Italian when your gm was born.

I have already applied for Dual Italian Citizenship in London, but this is excellent news as I wanted to establish whether my gm has ever been Italian.

My gm is still alive and says that she never had an Italian Passport or Citizenship that she was aware of. Where would you suggest that I can find documentation to prove this is the case? Also, how can I prove it if she only has a New Zealand Birth Certificate and Citizenship, and her birth or Italian Citizenship was never registered in Italy?

All she needs is her New Zealand birth certificate and her father''s birth certificate and naturalization papers. She would also provide a written statement that she never renounced her citizenship.

Emigrants very rarely registered their children's birth in Italy--they were establishing new homes--but that doesn't mean their children lost citizenship. Most foreign born children considered themselves to hold only one citizenship, the citizenship of the country in which they were born so, of course, your gm never had an Italian passport. Despite the lack of a passport, she was an Italian citizen, just as you are an Italian citizen despite never having a passport

If you are applying through your gm's line, you already have the documentation you need. If your gm is applying herself, she should add her father's marriage certificate and death certificate to the documentation I listed above.

During the mass emigration from Italy during the century between 1876 to 1976, the U.S. was the largest single recipient of Italian immigrants in the world. However, their impact was not as great as countries like Argentina and Brazil. That was due to the fact that hundreds of thousands of immigrant...

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